Upgrade your lifestyle by extending your living spaces to the outdoors, keeping all the style and comfort of the indoors. You can create an outdoor room to use for cooking, eating or relaxing, or one for all three. Get tips on designing and styling these space plus DIY advice on how to makeover and maintain them.

Be your own landscape designer with our easy step-by-step projects on transforming outdoor areas big and small. Solve problem spots like poor drainage and sloping sites with retaining walls, paving and pathways. Then add plants and ornamental features to make the space inviting.

Transform a garden or courtyard with outdoor structures you can build yourself in a weekend using timber, concrete blocks and other DIY friendly materials. Install an arbour to frame a pathway and grow a climber over it, put up a pergola for outdoor living, plus build and maintain fences.

Living with a pet is rewarding but they need looking after. We give you advice on how to choose an animal companion and the facts about pet insurance. Plus how to build a doghouse step by step, what you need to raise chickens in the backyard and the best ways to pet-proof your home and garden.

A swimming pool turns the backyard into a mini resort. Get info on putting in a new pool or renovating an old one, plus follow our guides on keeping the water crystal clear without calling in the pros, what to plant poolside, how to lay paving as a surround and installing a safety fence DIY.

From a tool shed to a greenhouse or a guest cabin we give you step-by-step instructions on how to build what you need in the backyard. With tools and materials lists you can take to the hardware store and diagrams for reference, you'll find it simple to give outdoor areas a DIY upgrade.